


we don't have to love

by 180cm



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: College AU, Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, M/M, kinda mutual pining, really brief doyoung
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-12 00:44:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20555429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/180cm/pseuds/180cm
Summary: Something turned in Donghyuck’s stomach. He stared at Jeno for a moment, eyebrows furrowed in thought, Jeno mimicking a similar expression as Donghyuck thought to himself: I wouldn’t mind looking at those eyes for the rest of my life. And with that revealing thought, he closed the small gap between them and softly pressed his lips to Jeno’s.





	we don't have to love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tokyomew](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokyomew/gifts).

> this is for [thy](https://twitter.com/renhyuks), happy birthday a week later :)

When Jeno had first met Donghyuck they were five years old. 

A new family had just moved into the house across the street that used to belong to Jeno’s best friend Jaemin who had to move away during the summer. 

Jeno had spent the summer moping around and playing alone on his front porch. 

One particularly hot day, a moving truck pulled up in front of Jaemin’s house and Jeno rushed inside to notify his mother that the people outside were stealing Jaemin’s house. 

When he went back outside, his mother trailing casually behind him, intrigued by her son’s accusations, Jeno was met with a gangly kid playing with the succulents on the edges of Jeno’s porch. The very succulents that he had helped his mother plant only weeks earlier. 

The boy, startled by Jeno’s arrival, jumped back and knocked into a pot he wasn’t aware was behind him, sending it flying over the edge and crashing on the stone path below. 

Jeno furiously charged at the boy and slammed him against the wooden bars, ready to punch him in the face for ruining his plants but he was lifted away from the boy by an arm encircling his waist and holding him tight against themself. 

“Jeno! No hitting!” His mother scolded before placing him down next to herself and grabbing onto his tiny hand tightly to make sure he didn’t charge at the boy again. 

The boy looked terrified, eyes wide, as Jeno glared at him from his mother’s side and scurried back across the road, hiding behind a woman moving furniture out of the truck. 

That day Jeno, heart beating at a hundred miles an hour, had vowed to make his life hell and make him leave Jaemin’s house so that he would have a place to stay when he came back. Just like he had promised.

✰

Throughout their childhood, Jeno and Donghyuck had developed a sort of rivalry; whether in academics or their personal lives, they always tried to one up and sabotage each other. Every Halloween, the boys holed up in their front yards and hurled eggs at each others houses.

Their school days consisted of stealing each others backpacks and dumping them over the fence and into the river that ran behind their school. Needless to say this was frustrating to everyone from their parents to their teachers to the point where they were in detention every day—in separate rooms of course. 

One particularly important day in Jeno’s life saw him hurtling down the steps of the stage at his graduation ceremony after a shove to his back from his best buddy, Donghyuck. Fortunately, Jeno being Jeno, stood up, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, and laughed before climbing back up the stairs and collected his diploma. 

Donghyuck was elated when he went to university, finally free of his nemesis. University made Donghyuck more studious, not entirely but enough to keep his grades consistently high while also giving him time to relax and hang out with his new flatmate, Jaemin, however his elated state ended one month later when an excited Jaemin rushed into his bedroom screaming about some friend of his and dragged Donghyuck out into the kitchen. Standing in the kitchen was none other than Lee Jeno. 

From that day forward, it was as if they were right back in school, even Jaemin, caught in the crossfire, couldn’t stop their feud.

✰

Jeno glared at the back of Donghyuck’s head, determined that if he stared long enough then his head would finally explode.

It didn’t. 

Instead, Donghyuck swiftly turned around in his seat and aimed a hard punch to Jeno’s bicep, a warning to quit staring or he will do much worse next time. 

Jeno mouthed a small ‘ouch’ once Donghyuck had turned back around in his seat and started rubbing at his arm, _damn, that bitch can throw a punch_. 

Jeno pouted in defeat for the rest of the seminar, sad about his loss and bolted from the room as soon as the hour was up. 

In the cafe later that day, Jeno had quickly snuck three packets of salt into Donghyuck’s coffee when he was distracted with talking to a second year and hid in the corner to watch as Donghyuck took a long sip of his drink and immediately spat it out in disgust.

His eyes instantly found Jeno snickering behind his giant textbook and rose to his feet, speed walking in Jeno’s direction with a vengeful expression plastered across his face. 

Jeno immediately stopped laughing as he noticed the look, having been subject to it many times before and hurriedly gathered his textbook and darted out of the cafe before Donghyuck could reach him, his own coffee forgotten on the table in his hurry. 

A week later when Jeno had typically fallen asleep during his lecture, Donghyuck had taken the opportunity to exact revenge on the sleeping demon who looked so peaceful, _awww_. 

Jeno woke up to the sounds of laughter around him. He rubbed at his sleepy eyes, looking around in confusion. He spotted a smug looking Donghyuck at the front of the room by the door who flipped him off before exiting the lecture hall. 

Jeno’s heart stilled. He rushed out of the hall and ran all the way to his dorm room. 

Standing in front of the small bathroom mirror, Jeno studied his haphazard appearance, a small sob escaping his lips as his eyes settled on the patch of missing hair on his head. 

He tentatively raised his hand to touch the bald spot, another sob escaping as his fingers grazed against his scalp where he should have hair. 

(He cries all night while Doyoung fixes his hair, giving him a terrible but manageable new haircut.) 

Donghyuck’s reign lasted four months until Jeno’s hair grew back enough for him to be happy with it again. 

Along with his hair, his hatred for Donghyuck had also grown. Everywhere he looked, he would see his smug face staring at him and laughing at his misery. 

Someone really needed to teach him a lesson and Jeno would gladly take on the challenge.

✰

Donghyuck, with his stupid perfect face and stupid perfect hair and those stupid perfect moles that made him that much more perfect. _Ugh_, Jeno thought as he tore up pieces of paper from his unused notebook and threw them at the stupid perfect bitch sitting two rows in front of him in the quiet section of the university library.

Donghyuck, finally fed up with all the tiny paper balls getting lost in his hair and hitting his ears, turned around to stare at the culprit. 

“Do you have a fucking problem, dude?” He hissed, eyes narrowed into slits. 

The librarian walking by tutted at the noise. 

“Take it elsewhere, boys,” she whispered before continuing on her way. 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes and got up from his seat to walk over to Jeno. He paused at his desk waiting for his stupid brain to get the message and follow him out. 

Outside was just the abandoned second floor of the library. The boys stood between the dust covered classic horrors shelves, Donghyuck’s arms crossed across his chest as he stared at Jeno, waiting for him to apologise and explain himself. 

Jeno shoves his hands deeper into his pockets, staring down at the floor at a particularly dark spot on the carpet, refusing to be the first to speak. 

“Ouch!” He screamed, grabbing his left shin and hopping on his right leg as he rubbed at the spot Donghyuck had kicked him in. “What the fuck, dude?!” 

“Exactly!” Donghyuck started, uncrossing his arms. “What the fuck? Why are you so annoying!” 

Jeno rolled his eyes, letting go of his leg and leaning against one of the bookshelves. He shrugged in response to Donghyuck’s question as a way to further taunt the boy. _Honestly, Donghyuck should know by now._

Donghyuck groaned in frustration, pouncing towards Jeno, who saw it coming from a mile away and grabbed at his incoming arms to turn them around and pin him against the bookshelf and his body. 

Donghyuck’s next words died in his throat, his face inches away from Jeno’s as they stared into each other’s eyes. 

He didn’t know who made the first move but the next thing he knew, his lips were on Jeno’s and his arms were entangled in the hair at the back of his neck pulling him down and Jeno’s hands moved to his hips and held on tight. 

They parted moments later, breathing heavily. 

Jeno cleared his throat and stepped back to let Donghyuck breathe easier. He scratched at the back of his neck where Donghyuck’s nails were digging into just a moment ago. 

“I’m gonna go…” he started, slowly backing up until he hit the adjacent bookshelf and startled himself. “Um, see yo— bye!” 

With that, he bolted from the library, leaving Donghyuck panting between the shelves of the abandoned second floor of the library. 

(When he returned to get his stuff from the quiet area, Jeno’s seat was empty and his bag had disappeared, much like he had himself.) 

When Jeno next saw Donghyuck, he was in line for the vending machine outside the cafeteria. 

Donghyuck was charging towards him, an angry determined expression plastered on his face. Jeno was kind of turned on. 

Jeno smirked at his approaching body, looking up and down and forming a satisfied ‘o’ with his mouth as Donghyuck came to a stop before him. 

“Looking good, Lee,” Jeno greeted him with a wink which earned him a roll of the eyes from Donghyuck. 

“We need to talk, Jeno,” he said simply before grabbing into Jeno’s arm and hauling him behind him as he navigated through the oncoming crowd of students. He finally let go when they entered an empty lecture hall. 

“Why did you do that the other day?” Donghyuck came out and addressed the issue outright, as he was known to do. 

Jeno decided to have some fun and play dumb. “Do what?” He asked innocently as if the memory of their previous encounter between the shelves in the secondary floor of the library with Donghyuck had plagued his every thought since it happened. 

Donghyuck wasn’t having any of it. He closed his fingers around Jeno’s bicep and squeezed as hard as he could until Jeno was squirming in pain. 

“Ow, fuck, okay,” Jeno succumbed to the pain. He rubbed at his surely bruised arm as he answered Donghyuck. “To answer your question, I don’t know, I just wanted to do it.” 

Donghyuck narrowed his eyes into slits, there was a glint in them that Jeno couldn’t work out the meaning of, not when his arm was in so much pain. “And now?” 

Jeno looked confused as he studied the shy look on Donghyuck’s face— 

_Oh_. 

Jeno liked where this was going. 

He took a step closer to Donghyuck, bringing them face to face. He stared into his eyes as he said his next words. “And now.” 

Donghyuck’s eyes slid shut as Jeno bridged the small gap between them with a gentle hand on Donghyuck’s chin and their lips met. 

Their lips moved against each other softly until Donghyuck laced his fingers into Jeno’s hair and considerably deepened the kiss, pushing Jeno’s body back with his own so it was against the wall. 

Jeno ran his hands down Donghyuck’s sides until they rested on his slender hips, pulling him in with one hand while the other found its way up and under his t-shirt. Donghyuck winced at the sudden contact momentarily breaking the kiss to catch his breath and shoot Jeno a glare. 

Jeno simply smirked at him, diving back in for a kiss. Donghyuck eagerly accepted it, hands tugging hard on Jeno’s greasy hair. 

It was when Jeno’s head was buried deep in Donghyuck’s neck, biting softly into the skin and hoping to leave a bright red mark that he was abruptly pulled away by a firm hand tugging on his hair. 

He met Donghyuck’s panicked eyes as he rushed to gather his belongings. 

Jeno rubbed the back of his neck in confusion, watching Donghyuck haul his backpack onto his shoulder and head up the stairs. 

“Where are you going?” he asked, and then in a smaller voice, “Why did you stop?” 

Donghyuck blushed at the memory of their short-lived make out session but quickly composed himself to answer Jeno’s question. 

“We have a lecture starting in five minutes,” he said like it was obvious, taking a seat at his usual row. 

Jeno glanced up at the clock hanging next to the projector at the front of the lecture hall and hurried to collect his own belongings. He made a sharp turn into the row behind Donghyuck and taking a seat directly behind him, several rows below his usual seat, just as the right hand door opened and students came flooding in followed by their panting lecturer. 

Jeno watched Donghyuck closely as Jaemin and the rest of his friends arrived to sit next to him, smiling as he kicked his seat and watched him huff in annoyance. He turned to glare at Jeno, warning him. His eyes briefly traveled upwards to his hair and he rolled his eyes, a look of disgust replacing the glare. 

“Wash your hair,” Donghyuck said bluntly before turning around again. 

Jeno raised a hand to his hair and was met with knotted and oily strands, he brushed the long locks behind his ear and pulled a beanie out of his bag to cover up the disaster. 

Just before the lecture started, Donghyuck whispered something to his friend—that Jeno missed despite practically breathing down his neck—before sinking down in his seat and pulling his cap down to cover his eyes. Jeno chuckled soundlessly and turned his attention to the lecture. 

Jeno and Donghyuck were kind of friends now, friends who occasionally kissed and hooked up. 

A few days after their lecture hall make out session, Jeno seeks out Donghyuck in the cafe on the ground floor of the social studies building. Donghyuck was leisurely reading a psychology research paper that he had to analyse for his report as he sipped on his too sweet hot chocolate when Jeno pulled out the chair in front of him and sat down, purposeful eyes trained on Donghyuck. 

“Hey, Lee,” he greeted, raising his eyebrows suggestively. “Wanna get out of here?” 

Donghyuck had seriously considered the question. He liked Jeno and he more than liked what they got up to, however, he felt as though he was still suffering from their contention. Jeno had been continuing his annoying antics in lectures and wherever else they happened to bump into each other, Donghyuck didn’t think that this was fair. 

“Sure!” he said. 

They walked to Jeno’s flat in silence, Donghyuck making sure to keep his distance—he didn’t want Jeno to get any ideas. 

When they reached the library five minutes later, Donghyuck headed inside, leaving Jeno confused and stumbling in after in. 

He tapped his ID card and went through the turnstiles, heading straight to the back booths. 

Jeno stood in front of him once he had settled into the booth, staring. 

“I thought we were going to mine…” Jeno said, taking a tentative seat in front of Donghyuck, who took out his notebook and the paper he was reading back at the cafe, casual as ever. 

“Yeah,” he started. “But then I remembered how annoying you are—“ Jeno made an indignant sound in protest. “—you’re still messing with me in lectures and, like, come on dude, I need to sleep!” 

Jeno contemplated this, his face scrunched up in thought. “So, no more making out?” 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “I hate to admit it, but you’re a good kisser, Jeno Lee.” He stated in a low voice, making sure only Jeno could hear his admittance of weakness. 

Jeno smirked at the comment which earned him a kick to his shin under the table. 

“How about this,” Donghyuck proposed. “You sit here while I finish going through this paper and if you can handle not being your usual annoying self and fucking up my work, then we can still mess around?” 

Jeno considered it for all of two seconds before he groaned and slumped in his seat. “Fine!” 

Donghyuck nodded and focused his attention on the research paper in front of him. Curious as he was to find out of Jeno could actually manage the small task handed to him, he also wanted to pass this unit so it was time to work, he would find out if Jeno succeeded after he finished his work. 

Donghyuck’s current position laying on Jeno’s bed with the other boy draped over him meant that Jeno had somehow succeeded. 

They had headed to Jeno’s flat 20 minutes after arriving at the library, Donghyuck not being able to focus on his assignment with Jeno sitting in front of him looking like that. 

_Like, who gave him the right?_

He was thankful that Jeno had listened to him and washed his hair, glad he could tangle his hands in his soft locks without them getting caught on knots and feeling all sticky. 

He ran one hand down Jeno’s exposed back, the other bringing him further into the kiss. 

Small moans escaped from Jeno’s mouth and spilled into Donghyuck’s through their joined lips. Donghyuck loved the sound of them, digging his fingers into Jeno’s back to draw more of them out. 

He could feel Jeno smiling against his lips just before they parted and Jeno attacked his neck, kissing the area below his jaw lightly as his hand traveled down his chest and hooked into the waistband of his jeans. 

Just as he tugged at the fabric, a silent ask for permission to which Donghyuck raised his hips closer to Jeno’s, the door burst open. 

They rushed to sit up and stare at the intruder as they stumbled into the room, a small bottle of vodka in one hand, which held a six pack of coke against his stomach, and a bag of snacks in his other. His eyes were wide as he stared at the pair on the bed. 

“Oh,” he said, realisation hitting quickly. “I’ll leave you to it,” he left the room immediately, the door slamming shut behind him. 

Donghyuck and Jeno remained sitting on the small bed, staring at the closed door for a moment before Jeno cleared his throat to get Donghyuck’s attention so he could try and salvage their night. 

“Sorry about that,” he started, turning back to face Donghyuck. “Mark and I have a weekly movie night, I guess I forgot…” 

He cut himself off by placing a testing kiss on Donghyuck’s lips. Donghyuck kissed back at first, taking his previous position on the bed but it didn’t feel the same anymore so after a while, when they parted to catch their breath, Donghyuck sat up to look for his discarded shirt on the messy floor. 

_Damn, Jeno, you live like this_, he thought, shaking his head in mild disgust as he pushed aside a pair of dirty jeans to reveal his shirt lying under it. 

“Why are you getting dressed?” Jeno asked, coming to sit on the edge of the bed next to the other boy. 

“Mood’s dead, go hang out with your friend, Jeno,” he ordered, standing up and walking towards the door. 

Jeno jumped up and ran after him, all the two steps from his bed to the door. “No,” he said, grabbing onto his wrist. “Mark will understand, don’t go,” 

Donghyuck freed his wrist from Jeno’s hold and smiled at Jeno reassuringly. “It’s fine, Jeno,” he said. 

Jeno looked sad at the prospect of Donghyuck leaving so Donghyuck places a quick kiss—an awkward kiss—on his lips and blushed profusely afterwards. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said before making a quick exit and not letting Jeno delay him to witness any of his further embarrassments. 

Jeno fell back on his bed and texted Mark to come back, the pout on his face stayed on for the rest of the night, even after Mark apologised numerous times.

✰

_They were on the beach, Donghyuck lay on the giant beach towel they had bought just for this occasion while Jeno busied himself helping some kids build a sandcastle. He was running back and forth getting water from the sea whenever the kids requested it. Donghyuck flipped over onto his front, resting on his elbows as he watched Jeno gather a bucketful of sand and hand it to the little girl before he ran back to the sea to get more water. _

_Donghyuck saw an opportunity to get back at him for all those times he tortured him in lectures and sprang to his feet, discarding his sunglasses on the beach towel and charged towards Jeno was who re-emerging front he water. _

_Jeno didn’t have time to react—one moment Donghyuck was racing towards him and the next moment his back was hitting the water, bucket abandoned at his side as Donghyuck’s body collapsed over his. _

_He groaned in pain and tried not to breathe in the water as his head went under. _

_Donghyuck laughed when Jeno came up for air, looking around in confusion. His face relaxed when he saw Donghyuck floating in front of him. _

_“What was that?” He questioned. _

_Instead of responding with words, Donghyuck grabbed onto Jeno’s shoulders and brought him closer. _

_When they were face to face, eyes staring deep into each other’s—for Jeno it was studying the tiny scar on Donghyuck’s right eyelid—and water flowing around them Donghyuck thought to himself: I wouldn’t mind looking at those eyes for the rest of my life. _

_And with that revealing thought, he closed the small gap between them and softly pressed his lips to Jeno’s. Jeno reacted by snaking his arms around Donghyuck’s waist and maintaining the soft nature of the kiss they were sharing. _

_He noticed then that this was the first their kisses were this soft—this sweet and careful. _

_Something turned in Donghyuck’s stomach that made him pull back. He stared at Jeno for a moment, eyebrows furrowed in thought, Jeno mimicking a similar expression as he waited for Donghyuck to speak. _

_“I—“ he started finally but was cut off by something hitting his arm. _

_Both boys turned to look at the little boy who was floating next to them, anger etched on his face as he glared down Donghyuck. _

_“Stop stealing Uncle Jeno!” the kid said as he grabbed onto Jeno’s hand and pulled him away from Donghyuck and back to the sandy beach. _

_Jeno laughed at Donghyuck’s affronted look and let the kid drag him back to the sandcastle. _

_Donghyuck scoffed and floated on his back for a while, gazing up at he white clouds adorning the blue sky. The sun was hot when it his his body, the water doing little to protect him from the intense heat. _

_He eventually closed his eyes, still floating weightlessly in the water, and welcomed the fast darkness to envelope him._

Donghyuck woke up with a jolt. He was slightly sweaty from the intense dream and took a long swing of his water, breathing deep as he recalled his dream. 

It was… weird. 

Donghyuck’s stomach still felt unsettled like in the dream. 

_Maybe it’s food poisoning_, he thought in an effort to calm his nerves which was only successful in distracting him because then he started thinking about actually having food poisoning and forgot all about the weird feelings he was having for his fuck buddy in his absurd dream. _I hate the beach_, he thought, trying to reason with himself, _so… sandy_. 

Jeno was waiting for Donghyuck at the library. They were supposed to get their essays done today so they could have the weekend off but it’s been half an hour since their promised meeting time and he was still not here. 

Jeno decided to send him a quick text asking his whereabouts. 

**jen:** hey where are u? 

He waited impatiently for a response, tapping his leg rapidly against the carpeted floor and mindlessly fiddling with his fingers. 

After five grueling minutes, Jeno’s phone finally buzzed with an incoming text and he rushed to read what it said. 

**hyuck:** Can’t make it  
**hyuck:** I’m sick  
**hyuck**: :(  
**hyuck:** Sorry I couldn’t let you know earlier, I just woke up from a nap :( 

Jeno frowned at the text. 

**jen:** are you okay  
**jen:** do u need anything? 

Donghyuck’s reply was instantaneous. 

**hyuck:** I’m alright  
**hyuck:** Just need to sleep it off 

**jen:** okay :(  
**jen:** lemme know if u do need anything 

**hyuck:** Will do :)  
**hyuck:** Thanks 

Jeno sighed. Well there goes his motivation to study. He shot a quick text to Mark to meet him in his room in ten minutes before gathering up his books and heading home. 

His hang out with Mark was spent thinking about Donghyuck and if he really was okay. His thoughts were preoccupied and that worried him. 

This thing he had with Donghyuck was just that, a thing. So why couldn’t he stop thinking about him? And why was his stomach in knots when he thought about how sick he must be? 

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. Halfway along the movie, he kicked Mark out and claimed the kitchen for himself for the next hour. 

Donghyuck really didn’t want to get out of bed—it had indeed been food poisoning—but the idiot who was banging on his door didn’t get the message so they kept knocking and his crazy annoying neighbour had already sent him several messages to make it stop. 

He dragged himself out of bed and over to the door. Throwing it open, he was met with a flustered Jeno carrying a black bag and a much clear white pharmacy bag. 

“Hi,” Jeno said, smiling sheepishly at Donghyuck. 

“Hey,” Donghyuck replied, his dream flashing back to him in that exact moment. “W-what are you doing here?” 

“I made soup!” Jeno announced lifting the black bag he was holding for Donghyuck to look at. “It’s not as good as my mother’s but I’m sure it’ll do the trick, I was so worried about whether you were eating—if you could eat, I brought some medicine too!” This time he held out the white pharmacy bag in front of Donghyuck and Donghyuck took it, hesitantly looking inside. 

“Thanks,” he said once his inspection was done. “Um, come in, I guess?” 

Jeno stepped into the room enough so Donghyuck could close the door and then proceeded to hover in that position as Donghyuck took the bags Jeno had brought over to his tiny kitchen, placing them on the counter and taking out their contents. 

“It should still be warm but if you want it hotter just heat it up in a pan for a few minutes and it’s good to eat.” Jeno said from his spot near the door. 

Donghyuck smiled at him thankfully and proceeded to place the soup in the fridge instead, not sure if he could stomach anything right now. 

“You can sit, you know,” he said once he was snuggled up in bed again, Jeno still hovering by the door. 

“I can leave if you want,” he said instead. “I just wanted to drop off the soup and make sure you’re okay…” He trailed off, avoiding Donghyuck’s eyes. 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes and threw a pillow at him, scooching over in his bed to make room for him and beckoning him over to sit. “Take off your pants and jacket and get in.” 

Jeno did as he was told but not before scoffing at the _Blink 182_ reference. 

They spent the night watching random shows on Netflix and when it was time for Jeno to leave—but not without promising to visit the next day—Donghyuck was already drifting off to sleep. 

(Jeno had placed a quick kiss on his forehead before leaving, smiling all the way home.) 

The next morning, Donghyuck woke up feeling refreshed. The memories of his dream were still fresh in his mind, as well as the knot in his stomach that was unrelated to his food poisoning but Jeno’s soup made him forget all about it as he ate every last drop. 

Jeno had kept his promise. A couple of hours after lunch he was back on Donghyuck’s doorstep, another black bag in hand. 

At least Donghyuck didn’t have to think about what to have for dinner tonight. 

Jeno had left just before dinner and Donghyuck ate his soup alone, thinking about Jeno. 

This was the second day they had spent together without anything happening and it just made Donghyuck feel weirder. 

He decided not to think about it any further, nope.

✰

His had plan failed miserably.

Donghyuck spent the next two weeks with a permanent knot in his stomach that seemed to pull tighter every time he was around Jeno. 

He repeatedly ignored his messages asking him to hang out, saying he had to study for their upcoming exams. And when they were together, hands all over each other as they mapped out each other’s body as if for the last time, all Donghyuck could think about was that moment in his dream when Jeno stared deep into his eyes; no words had been said but a thousand were understood in the accompanying silence. 

In those moments, Donghyuck would abruptly pull away, muttering an excuse before running out of the room, leaving a confused and, unbeknownst to Donghyuck, broken-hearted Jeno staring after him. 

It was these string of events that saw Donghyuck sat across from Jeno at a cafe in town, staring hard down at his hands around his cup of coffee as Jeno whispered the words he had been frightened to hear, a mysterious edge to his voice. 

“We can’t do this anymore,” 

It was five simple words but Donghyuck wanted to throw up at the pain it caused in his stomach. 

He knew this was probably coming but he hadn’t expected it this soon. 

Donghyuck’s gaze remained on his hands as Jeno continued. 

“I can see that you’re not interested in anymore and,” Donghyuck’s eyes snapped up at Jeno but the boy continued, seemingly unaffected. “I mean, it was bound to happen. We had our fun and now it’s over.” 

Donghyuck didn’t want it to be over. 

“I—“ he cleared his throat and tried again. “I think I like you,” 

Jeno’s eyes were wide in disbelievement. He had expected Donghyuck to agree with him, a final blow to his poor, weakened heart, before walking out of the cafe and leaving him broken in his wake. 

But this, this hadn’t even occurred to him in his hours of contemplation the previous night. It was so far out of reach to Jeno that he hadn’t even thought it was possible. 

Donghyuck didn’t wait for him to catch up, however, and continued to stutter his way through his sudden confession. 

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about your stupid face—that annoying smile—ever since that night you brought me soup and I, I don’t know,” he sighed, resigned. “I like you, stupid.” 

Jeno sucked in a breath at hearing him say it again. 

The tension visibly eased from his body when he finally let out the breath he was holding and looked directly into Donghyuck’s soft eyes. Searching. 

All he could find was sincerity. Jeno started to smile. 

“You like me?” He giggled at which Donghyuck let out a harsh groan and slapped his shoulder repeatedly. 

“Unfortunately yes,” 

Jeno giggled more, hands flying to cover his face and hide the blush rising to his cheeks. 

“Say it back or I’m gonna go!” Donghyuck demanded, clawing at Jeno’s hands. 

Jeno mumbled something against his hands which earned another groan from Donghyuck along with a harsh tug at his hands. 

Once his face was free, Donghyuck glared at him until he spoke again, relating but he had muttered against his hands. 

“I like you, too,” 

A bright smile spread across Donghyuck’s face as he pulled Jeno closer across the table by his collar and crashed their lips together. 

Donghyuck never wanted this to be over.

✰

When Donghyuck was five his family had moved in across a house with a pretty front garden. There were flowers of all sorts adorning the front porch and spilling onto the green gross below.

His parents were busy moving things inside from the big truck they hid gather had driven all the way from their old house while Donghyuck and his mother had followed him in their car. He had used the time that they were distracted to sneak over to adjacent house and admire the pretty flowers. 

He was crouched in front of a pink plant that he did not know the name of, tentatively stroking the petals when the door to the house had sprung open and he quickly stood up, gaze still transfixed on the pretty flower. 

Immediately afterwards, a little boy stumbled out of the house and froze in his tracks upon seeing Donghyuck. Donghyuck had reluctantly moved his gaze from the plant to the boy and jumped back in surprise, accidentally knocking a pot over the edge of the porch. 

Donghyuck was horrified at what he had done, gasping in shock but he hadn’t been able to apologise before he had been slammed him against the wooden frame.

There was rage in the boys eyes and fear in his own. He shut his eyes in anticipation of the punch but it never came. When he opened them again, the boy was glaring at him, face red in anger. 

Donghyuck, terrified, had sprinted back across the street and hadn’t left his mother’s side for the whole week, afraid of what the boy might do to him. 

Never had he thought that the boy would steal his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed this! 
> 
> comments and kudos are appreicated. 
> 
> come find me on [twt](https://twitter.com/180centimetres) and [cc](https://curiouscat.me/markly) :)


End file.
